Cooling the Mind: A Guide to Coping with Climate Anxiety

Are you feeling the weight of the world? Climate anxiety can feel heavy, but with the right balance of mindfulness, action, and joy, you can stay engaged without burning out.

Climate change involves long-term shifts in the average weather conditions that make up Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. It can affect us physically, as well as psychologically. Worry and distress about the effects of climate change on the environment and on human existence is called climate anxiety, or eco-anxiety. While we may not be able to address concerns about climate change overnight, below are a few things we can do to better cope with climate anxiety, so that we take better care of ourselves while we take better care of our planet.

Expose yourself to the right amount of climate news and social media. Information about climate change is all around us and too much or too little exposure to this information can increase or maintain anxiety. If we avoid all things related to climate change, we are not acknowledging the reality of the situation, and we miss opportunities to take meaningful action. On the other hand, if we inundate ourselves with information, we become so overwhelmed that we are similarly paralyzed with inaction. The goal is to find the happy medium wherein we expose ourselves to enough information to stay informed and motivated, but we also regularly take the breaks that allow us to function optimally.
Take action. Anxiety can leave us filled with feelings of helplessness and despair. Taking action is a good way to combat these feelings. Actions can range from simple and small to more complex and involved. These may include: planting a tree; disposing of waste in the correct bins; starting to recycle at home; donating to an organization protecting the environment; voting for political candidates that prioritize climate action; writing your local representative about climate change policies; starting green initiatives at your workplace or residence. Regardless of whether the action is small or large, the most important thing is that the action is meaningful to you.
Find the hope. Climate anxiety can involve feelings of dread about the future. A helpful strategy to balance these unpleasant feelings is to search for things that bring a sense of hopefulness about the future, such as proactively searching for information related to new initiatives and technologies being created that limit the impact of climate change.
Practice mindful moments. Like all types of anxiety, climate anxiety is future-oriented. Mindfulness is essentially the opposite of anxiety because it focuses on being in the present moment. As such, it has been shown to reduce anxiety. There are many ways to practice mindfulness. For some, mindfulness involves silent meditation or a focus on one’s breath. For others, mindfulness involves using guided meditations through an app. We can also practice “micro” mindful moments by taking a minute away from our devices and focusing intentionally on what is around us. For example, the next time you are at a park, take a minute to feel the grass on your toes and notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you.
Reconnect with things you enjoy. The more anxiety consumes us, the more it interferes with our ability to live the life we want to live. A helpful strategy to combat climate anxiety’s grip on us, is to get back to doing the things that make life worth living. This especially involves doing the things that bring us joy and pleasure, so that we can recharge the internal resources needed in order to cope with life’s ongoing challenges.

Dr. Natalie Ferreira is a Clinical Psychologist at Laksman Doell Psychology. She has a passion for helping individuals to increase their emotional intelligence at work and in relationships, so they can lead more enriched and fulfilling lives.